A Christmas Paradise
by TwistedSky
Summary: Fluffy little part two to Holiday Healing. It takes place a year later, and it's set on an island. It's for the lovely point0fn0return.She prompted me. She also prompted the first part, and I somehow decided that I could make both happen.


I disclaim! For point0fn0return. So the way the Holidays with Mikita series works is that I'm just writing Michael/Nikita for various holidays. Much fluff, the occasional smut/angst. Some of them are connected, others are not. Mostly it's just a tag for LJ, and it makes my life easier. Anyways. Enjoy!

XXXXXX

This was not happening.

It couldn't be happening, because as crazy as their lives were, stuff like this was supposed to be damn near impossible.

Except it was possible, real and annoying as hell.

Michael and Nikita were stuck on what seemed to be a deserted island.

It was laughable, ridiculous, and Michael swore he would rather be back in bed in Nikita's hideout, daydreaming about the day they'd finally take down Division. It had been almost a year, and they'd been nearing another black box—of which they'd found all but two—and they'd been led to this _island.  
_

They didn't even know where they were, because their informant had made sure of that, and they'd had to take a very roundabout route, and they were left very confused. They should have just waited until after Christmas, but it had been so cold . . . and the idea of a beach trip had seemed fun. Plus, they were Michael and Nikita. They'd honestly thought they'd be done in time for their Christmas specials marathon.

Apparently not.

"I can't believe this," Nikita looked around and sighed.

"I warned you not to trust him." Michael didn't want to lash out, but he couldn't help himself.

Nikita turned to him and glared. It was a dark look that would have destroyed a lesser man. Luckily, Michael was not a lesser man. "He's helped us in the past, and never given any indication that he wasn't trustworthy. I'm worried."

"And what about Alex?" He didn't feel comfortable leaving her without a backup plan, or without someone to spend Christmas with.

"She can handle herself. She's on the outside now. She'll be fine. She's probably spending time with Thom."

Michael grunted. "Percy won't like that."

"Percy won't find out," Nikita bit back.

Michael and Nikita just stared anywhere but at each other. Things had been tense lately. They'd made a lot of progress . . . but it was tough going from day to day like this. Being together, but not _together._

And the sexual tension was overwhelming.

And since they didn't really fight anymore—except as practice, to make sure they were at the top of their game—they argued. Because they couldn't have sex.

Michael wasn't even sure which one of them had had that moronic idea, though he was pretty sure it had been him.

And he wasn't just going to say, 'I'm horny, so I take it back.' Especially since that wasn't what it was about. They lacked physical intimacy, and they were afraid of getting too close . . . but most of the time it was just the two of them.

"I can't believe this." Nikita said again.

"You already said that. It's not helping."

"And you pointing out that it's my fault doesn't really help either, Michael." Nikita retorted angrily.

"They just left us here. How does that happen?"

Nikita fought the urge to slam her fist into Michael's chin. That wouldn't be productive, and would only start a fight.

But oh, was she in the mood for a fight.

"Since I'm not the eternal optimist, I'm not going to say it's because the boating guy decided to take a break and come back later."

"What are we supposed to do?" Michael was grateful they'd most worn comfortable clothing, or else this could have been _bad. _

Except, it already was bad.

They'd been stuck on the island for _five hours._

And it just got worse. They'd found a shelter first just in case, a cabin—which was basically just walls and windows—and they'd gone on a walk to see if they could find people. They'd found trees, what seemed to be a wild boar and lots and lots of sand.

And ocean. So much ocean. It was beautiful, and maybe they would have been able to enjoy it if it weren't _stuck_ on the island, or even if they were on vacation.

Oh god. Michael couldn't remember the last time he'd been on a vacation . . . another life, he supposed.

He shook his head clear and looked out at the ocean. He sat down suddenly.

"Michael—what are you doing?" Nikita asked, more than a little confused. "You're getting sand all over yourself."

Michael smiled at that, "In case you haven't noticed, sand is already everywhere. Might as well get comfortable." He raised his hand, grabbed hers and pulling her down suddenly into his lap, her fall knocking him over.

She landed on top of him, their heads inches apart, and their bodies plastered against one another.

Nikita looked down into his eyes. "Michael, I—"

Michael leaned up gently, kissing her lips.

There'd been a million of these moments. Moments where one or the other of them felt the need to kiss the other, but they usually had more self control. They hadn't actually kissed since New Years.

And it had been a _long_ year.

Nikita pulled away suddenly, lifting herself off of Michael. She offered her hand. He took it, and she helped him back up.

"I—Michael. We're not supposed to get attached."

She started walking at that. They hadn't scoured the entire island anyway.

She walked around, as fast as she could in the sand. She stopped suddenly, and turned back around. "Are you coming or not?"

Michael ran to catch up with her. "Yes. Nikita, I just—I—"

Nikita shot him a look that demanded he just _stop._ Because she couldn't handle this right now. She couldn't be with him, and not be with him, and then sometimes be with him . . . it wasn't fair.

She took off her shoes. "Well, that was foolish."

"I thought those looked comfortable." Michael said.

"You'd think so, but no. These sandals need to be outlawed." She put them in the bag she had with her and sighed.

"We'll be fine," Michael assured her, thinking she needed encouragement.

That wasn't what the problem was. "I can't keep doing this. We have two more, and if we actually find the one that's supposed to be here, that'll be _great._ But Percy is the last step, and then it's finally over."

"That's a good thing."

"It should be, but I'm just tired, Michael. The past few years haven't been easy. And even though things should be easier _with_ you than _without_ you, I don't know."

"I—"

"I know, Michael. We've been productive, and it's been nice not having to be alone anymore, but it still feels like there's this wall between us. And I can't just blow it up or climb over the damn thing." Nikita let out a frustrated sigh.

"If we let the wall go, what do we have?" Michael asked. There was a part of him that agreed, but there was also a part of him that felt protected by the wall, as if it could somehow make sure they wouldn't screw up whatever was between them. There was no going back from that.

"Each other."

"We already have that."

Nikita stopped walking and turned to him. "Do you really think it's the same?" She looked as if she were actually hurt by what he'd said. "Truthfully, Michael. Do you?"

Michael felt like the weight of the world were waiting to pounce on him.

"No, I don't."

Nikita turned away at that, and continued on.

As they came to a curve in the island. "Is that a path?" It was an odd little curve that seemed to enter the forest, though it seemed like someone had tried to make it seem _less_ like a path, which was part of why it was so suspicious.

"Looks like it," Michael tilted his head to the side. "Should we?"

"It can't hurt."

As they started down the path they wondered how this had happened. There was so much water under the damn bridge that the bridge was _flooded._

They were quiet for a while, not really daring to talk after what had just happened.

This wasn't working, but they didn't know how to fix it. They didn't know what came next.

"I think this might be what he was talking about," Nikita said in surprise when they came to an odd cave that looked like someone had attempted to make into a building.

"And here I just thought your contact was just trying to leave us on a deserted island without _anything." _Honestly though, it wasn't going to do them any good unless they could actually find the black box, and somehow manage to get off the god-forsaken island.

"Michael—" Nikita said. It was all she needed to say.

He shut up.

She walked to the edge of the cave and turned around. "Are we going to do it?"

"We might as well. What's the worst that could happen?"

Nikita fought the urge to scowl at him and smiled instead, "You know I hate it when you say that—"

"Because it always ends with the worst actually happening. I know."

"But you said it anyway."

"It's like a really bad movie, if I don't say it, we can't keep going. It's a rule."

"This isn't a movie."

"Maybe it should be."

Michael and Nikita just looked at each other for a moment before bursting into laughter. "Oh, Michael."

"We needed to release the tension. Silliness is always the answer."

Nikita fought the urge to say that them having sex was also an answer, but refrained from doing so. She entered the cave, pulling out her gun.

"I have your back." Michael said, unnecessarily.

"If you didn't I'd feel the need to inflict unnecessary pain upon you," Nikita replied quietly and sweetly.

"I'm sure it would be necessary pain." Michael replied.

Nikita elbowed him. _Hard._

She took great pleasure in the grunt of pain he emitted.

They went through and realized that no one was there. "This would be a terrible place to hide a black box."

"Except this island is off the map, and I don't even know if it has a name," Nikita pointed out, lowering her gun. "It should be in there," she motioned at the 'safe'—which was not immediately obvious.

"Password?" Nikita asked. She tilted her head to the side, "I'm actually rather surprised that it's so high tech. It feels like it would be easier to hack."

"I'm sure he's made it as unhackable as possible. As opposed to just breaking it open?" Michael asked.

"What are we going to do?" Nikita sighed. She turned to him, "Unhackable? Is that even a word?"

"Mockery, nice." Michael stepped forward and input a code. It opened.

"How—"

"Percy _still_ thinks I'm dead. We made a good choice, keeping that a secret."

"Why didn't you just say you had the password?"

"I wasn't sure. It was a bit of a gamble," he put his hand inside of the safe and grabbed the black box. "Well, there you go."

"The gamble wouldn't have ended well if you were wrong," Nikita realized. Chances were the cave was rigged to trap them in.

"At least we would have been trapped together." Michael raised an eyebrow slightly, as if to say 'Argue with me and see what happens.' "Let's get out of here."

"Perfect."

They lazily made their way back to the beach and saw that the sun was finally setting.

"It's almost over," Nikita said softly.

They sat down to watch the sky darken. It was a lovely view, and a lousy situation.

Michael pulled her towards himself, leaning her shoulder on his chest. He just held her. "It is."

"It feels . . . I don't know. It feels emptier than I thought it would."

"It's not over yet—"he pointed out.

"But it will be. And before I didn't think we could do it. But now we are."

"We'll be okay."

Nikita lifted her head, and looked into his eyes. She raised her hand, stroking his cheek. "Michael, I don't want to wait anymore. What we do next could be the end, and I don't want to die knowing that we were too afraid to be together. Especially if we end up dying on this island."

"Nikita," he leaned to kiss her softly. "You're right."

XXXX

_Two days later_

A practically naked Michael and Nikita had fallen asleep in the sunlight after a nice little "romp" in the ocean, so when they heard "Ahoy!" they jumped around nervously, and quickly put their clothes back on.

It was the boater who had left them on the island. "I'm going to kill him," Michael murmured.

"Not if I do first."

The old man merely smiled. "I'm here to take you back to the main island."

"Why did you leave us here?" Michael asked bluntly.

The man smiled even more brightly. "A nice young lady contacted me and offered me extra money to leave you here alone together. I didn't think it would hurt, especially since it's Christmas. And she seemed quite insistent."

Michael and Nikita turned to each other. "Alex," they said in unison.

They couldn't decide whether to be angry or not. They leaned in to kiss each other soundly.

"Ahem." The old man interrupted them.

"We should get back to the city," Nikita said softly.

After all, they had to catch up on Christmas specials and movies.

It was tradition.

And this year was special, because they were together, in body, spirit, and heart.

And that changed everything. So even though they had a lot ahead of them, they could handle it.

XXXXXX

Okay. Now I seriously need a break from writing. Anyways . . . Merry Christmas! Happy Holidays!


End file.
